


Movements in Dance

by ashgemini



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 08:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18807628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashgemini/pseuds/ashgemini
Summary: Rey is Coruscant City Ballet's newest principle dancer, and she's determined to have a perfect first season.Sure, she's partnered with the intolerable Kylo Ren, who seems to be going out of his way to make her miserable, but not even a bad partner is going to mess up Rey's dancing.





	Movements in Dance

“Welcome back everyone, let’s have a great season!” Leia says and the company dancers of Coruscant City Ballet Company burst into applause. Admittedly, Rey hadn’t really been listening to the Artistic Director’s speech. Every year the season opened with the same overly cheerful nonsense. Leia Solo had a reputation for being a hard ass, but once a year she put aside her usual temperament to give the dancers a start of season pep talk.

Though the speech may not have changed, this season was going to be different for Rey. This was her first season as a principle dancer. She was promoted young, especially for someone who had auditioned into the company only a few years ago, instead of coming up through the School of Coruscant City Ballet like most of the company had. Rey was just some girl from Iowa, and she’d be fighting to shake off her reputation as such ever since she first set foot in the Mace Windu Theatre.

The first week back kicked Rey’s ass, and on Friday night she found herself sitting on the couch with her feet in a bucket of ice. She gritted her teeth as she sank her feet all the way to the bottom of the bucket, trying to breathe through the wintery chill. Rey has always found this to be one of the worst parts of being a professional ballerina. Sure, there were lovely costumes and beautiful music, but then there were blisters that bled and a miserable Friday night with your feet in a bucket of ice.

Her phone buzzed and she unlocked it, being careful to keep it away from the bucket of water,

_Farm girl! come get a drink with me and Finn. We’re at Kate’s._

Poe Dameron. The ballet’s lighting designer and Rey’s first real friend in the city.

 _B there in 30, gotta finish icing my feet_        

After quickly toweling off her feet, Rey pulled on a pair of black jeans, a pair of vans that had seen better days, and a t shirt that said _Riverside, Iowa_ in faded blue letters. The pub was only a dozen blocks from her apartment, so Rey decided to walk and warm up her still-cold feet. 

Finn and Poe were at their usual seats at the end of the bar, drinks already in front of them.

 “Hey guys,” said Rey, taking a seat next to Finn.

 “Hey, farm girl,” says Poe, leaning over Finn to clap her on the shoulder, “I thought ballerinas were supposed to be more fashionable.”           

Rey gave him what she hoped was a scathing look and hugged Finn. The two men were lighting designers for the ballet company, they had that rough-around-the-edges look about them that most of the production staff had, but they were kinder to Rey than most of the dancers had been when she first arrived.

“Fall season is looking pretty good,” Finn said, “Jewels, In the Night, Giselle, probably a bunch of other stuff that I’m forgetting.” Before Rey could inform Finn that he was indeed forgetting nearly half of the fall season, Poe jumped in.

“And Nutcracker,” said Poe dryly, “Always Nutcracker. Nutcracker forever and always until we die.” 

“Cheers to that,” said Rey, clinking her glass against Poe’s. 

“Any roles you’re eyeing this season, Farm Girl?” asked Finn.

Rey thought about this for a moment. On the one hand, it was her first season as a principle, and she didn’t want to get ahead of herself. But on the other, a lack of ambition isn’t what got her out of Riverside. “One of the leads in Jewels, ideally Emeralds. Dew Drop Fairy in Nutcracker. I’d love to be Giselle, but they’ll probably have Jess or Sara as the lead, maybe I can learn it this season and perform it the next time we do it.”

“Farm girl got ambition,” Poe said with a tone of admiration.

 “Farm girl sure as shit got ambition,” she shot back.

 They spent the rest of the evening catching up on all of the company gossip. Even though they’d only been back for a day, the rumor mill was already churning out plenty of new material.

 “You should’ve seen Kylo this morning,” said Rey, “He took the first spot at the bar, practically pushed someone out of the way to get it. He’s such a diva.” Kylo was the Artistic Director’s son, and Rey (along with Finn and Poe) felt he was a little too big for his britches, as Rey would’ve said. Or that he was a big-headed dick, as Poe would’ve said.

 “He’s such an asshole,” said Finn, who didn’t normally participate in the Kylo-bashing. “He doesn’t even know anyone’s names, just comes backstage and starts giving everyone critiques on what they’re doing. I don’t tell him how to do his job!”

 Kylo had always danced with Coruscant City Ballet, and presumably always would. From being a child in the school to a principle dancer, his whole career had been perfectly planning out for him by his family. Rey had plenty of friends who had always been with the company, but it always rubbed her the wrong way when people thought that made them better than her.

 “Who do you think they’ll partner him with this season?” asked Finn, sipping his beer. The last two seasons Kylo had partnered with a girl named Alicia, but she had left to join a contemporary ballet company.

 Rey shrugged, “Good luck to whoever it is.”

 Poe gave her a cutting look, “Rey, you’re the only other principle without a partner. They’ll put you with Kylo”

 The gears in Rey’s mind ground to a halt, “They wouldn’t do that. They can’t. Plus I’m new, there’s no way they’ll partner him with the new girl.”

 Finn cocked his head, thinking, “But Leia loves you, if anyone could persuade Kylo to partner you, it’s his mommy.”

 Rey opened her mouth. And then closed it. And then opened it again.

 “I wonder how Kylo is going to feel about partnering a fish,” said Finn, and Poe solemnly gave him a hi-five.

 

* * *

 

 Class on Monday morning was grueling, the second week back after a break was always even harder than the first. After class they had rehearsal for Giselle, they’d spend a week learning and rehearsing and at the end of the week casting would go up.

“Ren and Kenobi, you’re up first for Giselle,” said Maz after class. Rey stifled a sigh. Figured. Finn and Poe were going to be really annoying one they found out about this.

 Maz was approximately a million years old, by Rey’s reckoning. She wore thick coke bottle glasses and was quick to give corrections and stingy with her praise. Maz was not the sort of lady who would’ve taken kindly to Rey shouting “I can’t dance with Kylo, he’s the worst!” so she bit her tongue and went to stand beside her new partner.

 “Alright, show me the first pas de duex,” said Maz once the rest of the dancers had cleared out of the room. Kylo extended a hand to Rey and she begrudgingly took it.

 At this point in the ballet, Giselle was madly in love with her prince. How Rey supposed to convey this while fighting the impulse to throttle her partner was beyond her. Still, it was an honor to even be learning this piece, so she continued to bite her tongue as they began rehearsals.

 His fingertips bit into her waist as he lifted her and she retaliated by clenching his hand harder than she should’ve during her balances. He shot her a dirty look and she met it with a level expression. Rey was nothing if not professional, and she was going to let this asshole ruin her chances.

“Look at you two!” said Maz, gesturing towards her and Kylo when they finished their run of the piece. “Such passion and intensity, wonderful job!”

Right. Well, passion was one word for it.

 Three more runs of the piece and Maz dismissed them, still singing praises of their passion and intensity. Rey grabbed her water bottle and her leg warmers and headed out of the studio, jogging a bit to catch up with Kylo. She may have been living in the big city for several years now, but it would take more than that to get rid of Rey’s Iowa cornfed politeness.

 “Good job today, Kylo!” she said as she caught up with him.

 He turned and gave her a puzzled look, “Thanks?”

 “Have you done this piece before? I wanted to go over some of the storyline if you’ve…” But Rey didn’t get the chance to finish her question, Kylo had already walked away.

 “Dick,” she said to herself, going to find Jessika, who was sitting in the lounge rolling out her back. Jess had been with Coruscant City Ballet since she was 16, leaving her hometown to come to the school. A few years older than Rey, she’d been a mentor as well as a friend.'

“I caught the last few minutes of Giselle rehearsals, you did amazing!” said Jess, full of her usual enthusiasm. All professional ballerinas were just a little bit cut throat, but Rey had always found Jess to be the one of the nicest of the bunch. But she was probably just doing a slightly better job of hiding her cut throat nature than everyone else was.

“Would’ve been better if I didn’t have to partner with that asshole Ren,” Rey didn’t even try to keep bitterness out of her voice.

 Jess shrugged, which was impressive given that she was folded in half to stretch her hamstrings. “Bad partners make you a better dancer, it forces you to be more aware of your own body,” she unfolded herself to look Rey in the eye, “Maz is right, it looks like the two of you are passionately in love. To someone with the well-trained eye that I myself posses, it looks like you’re trying to kill each other.”

 Rey laughed, Jess always gave the ideal mix of humor and advice. “They won’t actually cast us, or if they do it’ll only be the week day shows or something like that. It’s my first year as a principle, they never cast new girls this early in the season.”

 “Wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said Jess, standing up. “I’m going to head downstairs to physical therapy and get them to work on my ankle before my next rehearsal, I’ll catch you later.”

 The rest of the week they continued to work on Giselle, and even Rey had to admit that she and Kylo danced well together. His height and strength made him a good partner, and he had the easy confidence that only came from having been a professional dancer for a long time. She still wanted to strangle him, but at least she was dancing well.

 On Friday afternoon Rey went down to the costume shop to pick up a few new pairs of pointe shoes to sew over the weekend. The best part of dancing for such a large ballet company, in Rey’s opinion, was being able to custom order pointe shoes exactly the way she wanted them.

 If she was being honest, Rey mostly was going by the costume shop to kill time. Casting for Giselle was supposed go up this afternoon, and she was nearly vibrating with anticipation. Despite Rey’s instance that she wasn’t going to be cast, she wanted the role more than she was willing to admit.

 Luke Skywalker was the head of the costume department and had been for nearly 30 years now. He and Leia were an artistic powerhouse, her choreography and his costume designs had produced some of the most innovative pieces Rey had ever seen.

 “Hey, Luke,” she said, grabbing her pointe shoes out of the cubby on the wall marked with her name.

 “Rey!” said Luke, dropping the tutu he had been working (it looked like it was the Sugarplum Fairy tutu, Rey made a mental note to ask if they were remaking some of the nutcracker costumes this year). “Don’t tell me you were going to stop by without giving me a hug!”

 After a warm embrace, Luke placed his hands on Rey’s shoulders and looked at her, “A little bird told me Giselle rehearsals are going very well for you.”

 Rey grinned, “Ren isn’t my favorite partner ever, but I think we’re doing well.”

 “He’s a prick,” said Luke dryly. “Always complaining about his costumes, oh this is too tight, this itches, this isn’t exactly the way I want it as all things should be. I mean, fuck. If you wanted to be comfortable, should’ve picked a different career.”

 Rey snorts out a laugh and glances at the clock on the wall behind Luke’s head, “Oh shit it’s nearly five o’clock, I’m going to see if they’ve posted casting yet.” Luke waves her out of the shop and Rey takes the stairs at a run, trying to hold back her excitement.

 Casting was always posted on the big bulletin board on the third floor, and unsurprisingly, there was already a crowd around the board. Pushing her way through the crowd of dancers and craning her neck, Rey scanned the sheet, starting at the top.

_First Cast Leads:_

_Giselle- S. Mearns_

_Albrecht- J. Angle_

_Second Cast:_

_Giselle- R. Kenobi_

_Albrecht- K. Ren_

Second Cast! For her first year as a principle! She was Giselle! A smug grin crept its way across Rey’s face. Sure, this meant many more hours in a studio with Kylo, but she wasn’t thinking about that right now. Right now, she was thinking about how good it felt to prove herself.  

**Author's Note:**

> Spot the NYC Ballet dancers in the story


End file.
